31 Aug 2015

While other elderly women are looking up to their children to take care of, it is not the case with Popagano Pottery women of Madikwe Kgotla in Tutume. The elderly there have decided to utiliose the skills learnt from their parents to make traditional clay pots to sustain themselves and their families.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, the spokesperson for Popagano Pottery, Kedisaletse Dintwa said the group is made up of six women who met in 2004 in an Out-of-School Education and Training (OSET) class. 

 She said attending lessons has proved to be fruitful as it made them realise that they too have the potential to become entrepreneurs regardless of their educational background.

The pottery business started operating in 2005, the main reason being to improve their standard of living, use skills learnt at school to make a living as well as build a better relationship between former classmates. She said they meet every Wednesday morning in her yard to make traditional pots using clay, which they collect from Moroka, some few kilometres from Masunga.

 They mix the clay with water then place the mixture in metal plates of different sizes to produce pots of different sizes. The pots are then left to dry for a week, afterwards they dig a hole where they place the pots and a lot of cow dung to make fire to burn the pots for a day to harden them.

 Finally, they use mogonono tree leaves to make scrub and shine the pots and also use letsoku to draw different patterns to decorate their pots.

 She said the pots are priced between P10 to P150 depending on their size and decorations to individuals, schools, lodges and even different offices around the village. In addition, she said they also participate in agricultural shows every year where they market and sell their products. Ms Dintwe explained that they have managed to open a savings account for their profit so that they can develop their business plot where they will be able to operate from.

 The OSET office has been helpful as they took some of the members for pottery training in Serowe, where they learnt more about pottery and some basic business skills.

 She said they plan to go for pottery training again so that they can learn to use a potter’s wheel and produce plates, cups and vases. Lillian Thapo, who is the OSET teacher, said she was pleased with her learners’ achievements, noting that they have managed to start a profitable business. 

She said through them, she has learnt to make clay pots and decorate them.

 Thapo added that she would continue to work and advise them accordingly, stating that at the moment, they are in the process of writing a proposal so that they can ask for funds at the Gender Affairs Department to improve the pottery business. She also said the women have shown that the skills learnt in class can also be implemented in real life and people can learn a lot from what the women have achieved. Ends